Jonathan's Space Report
No. 163 (Revised) 1993 Aug 4
Last minute amendment since I guessed wrong on the Titan payload first
time around.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shuttle
-------
Launch of STS-51 has been delayed until at least Aug 12. Concern about
possible exceptional Perseid meteor shower activity this year during
the perihelion passage of Perseid parent comet P/Swift-Tuttle caused the
delay until after the annual Perseid display.
Meanwhile, the external tank and solid rocket boosters for STS-58 have
been mated in the VAB. The STS-58 mission will be a Spacelab mission
using orbiter Columbia.
Mir
---
Tsibliev and Serebrov continue in orbit aboard the Mir complex.
Their callsigns are 'Sirius-1' and 'Sirius-2'.
Launches
--------
A Titan 4 blew up one minute 41 seconds after launch on Aug 2, and is
being billed as the most expensive space accident since the loss of
Challenger. According to the New York Times, the payload was not a
LACROSSE as originally thought, but an advanced Naval Ocean Surveillance
Satellite system. This system, consisting of three satellites which
maintain a fixed distance from each other to carry out interferometric
location of radio signals from ships, is the third in a
second-generation series. In the first generation, WHITECLOUD, which
flew from 1976 to 1987, the three satellites were reportedly physically
connected by long (several km!) wires to a central deployer core,
the configuration being visible in binoculars from the ground as a
fixed pattern moving across the sky. The details of the new generation
are not yet clear.
Launch of the Titan 4 was from Space Launch Complex
4-East at Vandenberg AFB, California. This is the seventh
Titan 4 launch and its first failure. The largest Titan 4
variant, the Titan 401/Centaur, has been stuck on the pad
at Cape Canaveral for over a year because of various delays;
this setback will certainly delay the launch even further.
Titan 4 launches:
1 1989 Jun 15 Titan 402/IUS DSP F14 early warning
2 1990 Jun 8 Titan 405 Advanced Ocean Surveillance
3 1990 Nov 13 Titan 402/IUS DSP F15 early warning
4 1991 Mar 8 Titan 403 LACROSSE 2
5 1991 Nov 8 Titan 403 Advanced Ocean Surveillance
6 1992 Nov 28 Titan 404/TPA Advanced CRYSTAL spy sat?
7 1993 Aug 2 Titan 403 Advanced Ocean Surveillance
First Generation WHITECLOUD launches:
Test vehicle 1971 Dec 14 983x999x70 1971-110A,C,D,E
NOSS 1 1976 Apr 30 1092x1128x63 1976-38 A,C,D,J
NOSS 2 1977 Dec 8 1054x1169x63 1977-112A,D,E,F
NOSS 3 1980 Mar 3 1048x1166x63 1980-19 A,C,D,G
NOSS 4 Dec 9 - -
NOSS 5 1983 Feb 9 1052x1168x63 1983-08 A,E,F,H
NOSS 6 Jun 9 1051x1170x63 1983-56 A,C,D,G
NOSS 7 1984 Feb 5 1052x1172x63.4 1984-12 A,C,D,F
NOSS 8 1986 Feb 9 1049x1166x63.0 1986-14 A,E,F,H
NOSS 9 1987 May 15 1045x1179x63 1987-43 A,E,F,H
Erratum: The launch on Jul 22 was not in the Resurs-F series. It
has been given the name Kosmos-2260. The launch announcement
stated that it was part of a series to compile an official
register of natural resources and to study soil properties
(i.e. perhaps agricultural studies?). It has also reportedly
been given the name Resurs-T.
The recon satellite Kosmos-2259 surprisingly reentered after only
11 days in space. It was expected to stay up for two months.
On its last day in space its orbit was 172 x 322 km, which is
high enough to suggest a deliberate de-orbiting rather than
a reentry due to engine failure.
Date Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Jul 1 1433 Soyuz TM-17 Soyuz 2 Baykonur Spaceship 43A
Jul 8 0715 Kosmos-2258 Tsiklon-M Baykonur EORSAT 44A
Jul 14 1640 Kosmos-2259 Soyuz Plesetsk Recon 45A
Jul 19 2204 DSCS III Atlas AC-104 Canaveral Comsat 46A
Jul 22 0856 Kosmos-2260 Soyuz Plesetsk Remote sens. 47A
Jul 22 2258 Hispasat 1B ) Ariane 44L Kourou Comsat 48A
Insat 2B ) Comsat 48B
Aug 2 1959 LACROSSE 3? Titan 403 Vandenberg Recon FTO
Reentries
---------
Jul 1 Endeavour Landed at Kennedy Space Center
Jul 1 EURECA Returned to Earth aboard Endeavour
Jul 4 Progress M-18 Deorbited
Jul 4 Raduga capsule Landed in Russia
Jul 12 Resurs-F1 Landed in Kazakhstan?
Jul 18 MSTI-1 Reentered
Jul 22 Soyuz TM-16 Landed in Kazakhstan
Jul 25 Kosmos-2259 Reentered?
Current Shuttle Processing Status
____________________________________________
Orbiters Location Mission
OV-102 Columbia OPF Bay 2 STS-58
OV-103 Discovery LC39B STS-51
OV-104 Atlantis Palmdale OMDP
OV-105 Endeavour OPF Bay 1 STS-61
ML/SRB/ET/OV stacks
ML1/RSRM-34/ET-57 VAB Bay 3 STS-58
ML3/RSRM-33/ET-59/OV-103 LC39B STS-51
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- WORLDWIDE SATELLITE LAUNCHES ---
Following my review of Worldwide Satellite Launches (WSL), a monthly
publication by Phillip Clark, I received from him a rebuttal of some
minor criticisms I expressed. In the interests of completeness I
reproduce an abridged version of his comments below:
"Following the demise of the RAE Tables I decided to produce a
replacement on a commercial basis; not a straight copy but an expansion
which would result in the kind of publication I wish had been around
twenty years ago. Naturally there are omissions as well as additions to
the RAE format, and I invite comments and suggestions which will all be
seriously considered. "
"Dr. McDowell mourns the lack of lifetimes in WSL. This was a conscious
decision on my part as I do not have the RAE algorithms and would rather
not give estimated figures which could be greatly in error. I do give
descent dates and times for all objects, and I do include launch and
descent times to the nearest minute when they are announced, something
that the RAE did not do. More orbital data for manoeuvring objects, and
orbital data for more objects involving recognizable operational debris,
are included. As for including perigee passage and ascending node data,
I had not considered this but will ponder over it as something to add
later. Orbital epochs are given to one more decimal place than in the
RAE table. The descriptive data for Russian rocket stages is more
complete and more accurate. Finally, unlike the RAE Tables, data for
launch failures are included. "
"As for the production standard, I appreciate Dr. McDowell's comments.
Should the number of subscribers increase I shall be able to invest in a
laser printer. At present masters are prepared in bold print on a 24-pin
dot matrix printer to ensure to good quality original. However I would
hope that the amount of information in WSL is not overlooked because of
the printer quality which in any case is normally very clear. "
"Anyone interested in further details of WSL can contact me at: Molniya
Space Consultancy, 30 Sonia Gardens, Heston, Middlesex TW5 0LZ, England
(tel and fax +44 81 570 3248). The subscription for 1993 launches is
US$100 and that for 1994 (including the fully-updated and corrected 1993
launch list) will be about US$120."
Phillip S Clark
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Jonathan McDowell | phone : (617) 495-7176 |
| Harvard-Smithsonian Center for | |
| Astrophysics | |
| 60 Garden St, MS4 | |
| Cambridge MA 02138 | inter : jcm@urania.harvard.edu |
| USA | |
'-----------------------------------------------------------------------------'